Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution—using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: Does Northern or Southern California have more Superfund sites and brownfields as defined by the EPA?
For as long as I've lived there's been a long-running, low-level feud between Southern California and Northern California. You see it most obviously in the sports competitions—San Francisco Giants vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, but you also read it about it in terms of inequities in resource distribution. Does Southern California really get more money and care than Northern California?
(And in the spirit of full disclosure, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but now live in Palo Alto, which is definitely in Northern California. I was a Dodgers fan, but now I root for the Giants. Not that this would influence my judgment in any way...)
But seriously...let's look at a resource allocation issue as an investigative journalist might.
As you know, the Environmental Protection agency makes declarations of "Superfund sites" (that is, places that are so badly polluted that there's a special federal fund dedicated to cleaning them up) and "brownfields," places that are still polluted, but don't have quite as much funding dedicated to cleanup.
Today's question is pretty straightforward.
Question: Does Northern or Southern California have more Superfund sites and brownfields as defined by the EPA?
And if you're into it, for extra credit, can you determine which of those sites has more funding spent on cleanup over the past decade? Again, which region wins? The North or the South?
For our purposes, the split between North and South California is at 36.344 north latitude. (A line that runs through Visalia, CA.)
Remember... please let us know HOW you found the answer (what steps you did along the way), and how LONG it took you to find it!
Daniel M. Russell studies the way people search and research—an anthropologist of search, if you will. You can read more from Russell on his SearchReSearch blog, and stay tuned for his weekly challenges (and answers) here on Lifehacker.
Image via Jesse Kunerth (Shutterstock).